


Restart

by myotishia



Series: A path less walked [12]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:22:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24344206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myotishia/pseuds/myotishia
Summary: Martha visits her friends at Torchwood in the middle of a case.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Owen Harper/Toshiko Sato
Series: A path less walked [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1645870
Comments: 10
Kudos: 33





	1. Beginning of the end

Ianto flicked through his journal, still annoyed that there were pages missing. They hadn’t been torn out, they’d been carefully cut and removed. Which, if he was honest, was something he would have done if he had to take the pages out. Jack had brushed off the week that they’d all forgotten but the others still seemed a bit unnerved. He certainly was. The door of his domain opened and a very familiar, well dressed, woman entered from the chill of the morning. 

“Martha, it’s good to see you again.” He smiled, placing his journal away. 

She gave him a warm smile in return. “You look great. Glad to see the world hasn’t ended over here.”

“What have you been up to?”

“Oh you know, came back to earth, started working for UNIT, got promoted to medical director, the usual.” 

“Just the boring day to day stuff then. Go on, I’m sure Jack’s waiting for you. Oh, and if you’re going to visit Owen remember to knock on the wall or something.”

“Why? Is he working on something important?”

“Well, Tosh is important, but I wouldn’t call it working.” He said drily, hitting the button to open the hidden door. 

Owen was working on a body that looked like a prop from an alien film. There was no other way to describe it. Something had made its way out of the mans body the hard way. He’d looked up the mans medical records but what was left of them didn’t line up with the blood samples he’d taken. It was going to be one of those cases. 

“Owen, I heard you’ve been busy.” Martha chuckled from the archway, Jack standing next to her with a smirk. 

He rolled his eyes. “You get caught one time. So, trying to take my job?” He teased.

“I think that would be a bit of a pay cut. Plus your skills are better used here. Is this what your message was about?”

“The one from this morning? Yea. Looks like I won’t be able to join you for drinks tonight.”

“Now I’m interested.”

Jack chuckled. “Now I’ve lost you both to it.”

“Sorry.” Martha grinned. “Just half an hour?”

“Ok, ok.” He winked and left them to it.

Owen moved so she could join him on the lower floor. 

“So, what happened to him exactly?” She asked.

“Not sure yet, but that’s not what’s interesting. I dragged up his medical records using his ID, and even though the photo matches it can’t be him.”

“Oh?”

“Our body, other than the giant hole in his stomach was in perfect health, but his medical records say he was HIV positive.”

“So either the records are wrong or…”

“Or he was cured before whatever dug its way out, dug its way out.”

“But that would be world changing.”

“And should be all over the news, so someone’s keeping it a secret.”

“It can’t be a government project then.”

“And it still leaves us with what the hell crawled its way out of him. Fancy helping me find out?”

“Let me get a lab coat on and scrub up.” She beamed. “So when did Ianto catch you and Tosh?”

Owen sighed. “Yesterday. It was a quiet day, nothing to do, thought everyone else had buggered off.” 

“Oh come on, it’s a bit funny.”

“I thought it was too but Tosh is still a bit upset over it.”

“Ah.”

“She’s just embarrassed. Try not to bring it up.”

She mimed zipping her lips. 

“Anyway, being as this is the third body I’ve got who died this way I want to find out the cause asap.”

Toshiko had been quiet, even for her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t an active part of this investigation. Using the sparse medical records as a starting point she’d been building an image of the mans whole life. She’d recovered what she could, but a lot of the data had been carefully removed. Nothing would bring that back. It was similar to other cases they’d received. As much as everyone was trying to keep light hearted about everything for Marthas benefit, they were worried. It had been why Tosh hadn’t been thinking straight around lunch time the day before. She just needed a distraction from the dead ends she was facing. She could hack into the pentagon without being detected, but recovering these files had been rendered impossible and the thing that could tell them what had killed these people was likely in that data. It was incredibly frustrating. She was about to take another break, just to stretch her legs and clear her mind when she saw a familiar contact on the mans email account. It was just a normal name so she hadn’t paid too much attention to it but this was too much of a coincidence. The email was about a meeting of some kind, or a journey. Either way it was overnight. Each email gave the same address. A medical research centre known as the Pharm, run by a medical researcher. Dr Copley. She used the email address to try and find others that might have visited there recently. One person out of the four was still alive. 

“Jack, I might have found the next victim.” 

He was at her side in an instant. “Get me her address. Gwen, we’re going to go and ask a few questions.”

The woman in front of them looked very cheerful and gladly invited them into her home. 

“Would you like anything? Coffee? Tea?” She asked, leading Jack and Gwen into the humble living room. 

Gwen gave a polite smile. “No, thanks. We just wanted to ask you about your contact with a medical research centre.”

“The Pharm. Yes, they’ve given me my life back.”

“Can I ask about your treatment?”

“I know I shouldn’t say but… Well. I only went for it because my diabetes was out of control. No matter what I did I couldn’t manage it. When I was there they gave me this little pill, reset they called it, and the next morning my blood sugar was fine. I couldn’t believe it, but since then I’ve been better than ever before. It’s amazing. I owe everything to Dr Copley.” The woman enthused. 

“Were you given any information on this drug?” 

“Let me see…” She walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a stack of papers. Flicking through she didn’t find what she was looking for. “Sorry, I must have thrown the little pamphlet they gave m-” Her body jolted. 

“Are you ok?”

“Y-yea… I just-” She coughed and grabbed at her throat.

Gwen moved to approach but Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her back, seeing the long line of blood begin pouring from the womans mouth. Her throat distended as what looked like spindly, insectoid, legs sprout from between her lips. A large dragonfly like insect pushed its way out, fluttering its translucent wings as they began to dry, free from its human cocoon. Both Jack and Gwen aimed at the thing but before they could fire a bullet swept past them, shattering its chitinous form before the womans body fell to the floor with a damp thud. The captain turned just in time to see a figure dressed in black attempting to escape the scene. 

“Cut him off.” He gestured to the front door as he dashed around the back. 

Gwen sprinted to stop whoever had shot the creature, seeing him running past the SUV followed by Jack. She fired a round into the balaclava masked mans leg, dropping him to the floor, hard. 

“It looks like someone at the Pharm wanted to keep their test a secret.” Jack said as he watched Owen patch the assassin up. They didn’t want him to bleed out before they could find out what was really going on. 

“Can’t we just go and ask? I mean Dr Copely isn’t some quack in a lab coat. Do you really think he’d let this happen under his nose?”

“I don’t think someone could hide these huge insects from him. Anyway, before she died the woman mentioned him by name.” 

The assassin growled as Owen dressed the wound on his leg, or at least that’s what they thought he was growling at. 

“I gave you enough pain killers that I could stab you in the leg and you wouldn’t feel it. You can knock it off.” The doctor said before looking up and changing his mind. The bound man looked deathly pale, and had a thin sheen of sweat across his brow. “Have you taken anything?”

The assassin shook his head. “Fuck it hurts! Feels like something’s moving.” 

“The woman said something about reset. Were you given anything by that name?” Asked Jack, having a sneaking suspicion about what was happening. 

“N-no!... Argh… I had to catch one of those bugs after it hatched… It stung me… But that was days ago… Copely said I was fine!” 

“Jack, help me lay him down and call Martha. Tell her to bring my field kit.” Owen took his scissors and cut away the mans body armour and shirt. Jack didn’t argue. He helped the writing man out of the chair and onto the floor, watching the skin of his stomach move unnaturally. The doctor got to work immediately, using the last of the local anaesthetic he’d brought for the bullet wound to numb out the flesh above the parasite. 

The assassin looked down, terror in his eyes. “Oh god. There’s one of those things inside me?”

“What’s your name mate?” 

“Billy… Billy Davis.”

“I’m Dr Owen Harper and I’m going to try and save your life, but this is going to get messy.” 

“Please, I don’t want to die.” Billy sobbed, still looking down at the thing moving in his stomach. 

Martha ran in and handed over the bag before pulling on a fresh pair of gloves. Owen opened the bag and found what he was looking for. 

“Billy, I need you to look away. This might still hurt a bit.”

Martha took the moment to hold Billys hand and move so he could look at her instead of what was happening to his stomach. Owen carefully cut just below the movement, hoping to let the insect out before it did any more damage. He hoped he’d been fast enough to save the man as he extracted the insect, one hand gripped tightly around the flys thorax so it couldn’t bite or sting him. Its damp wings fluttered in the open air before Jack, returning wearing a pair of gauntlets, took it and placed it into a tank held by Ianto in the hallway. 

An hour, and a very inopportune surgery, later Billy was stable and still alive. He’d need a long time to recover but he was alive. That’s what mattered. 

“The whole place is heavily guarded. Other than the front gate, there’s no way in.” Tosh said, looking up from her screen. 

Jack nodded. “And you haven’t managed to hack their system?”

“It’s closed off. I’d need to get access to one of the computers on their network, which are all inside.”

“Damn… We need to get inside.”

“We’ve still got Billys van. We could use it to get in undetected.” Gwen offered.

“They’d know as soon as we pulled up.”

Tosh glanced over to the medical bay. “Maybe we could convince Billy to drive us in. Owen and Martha did just save his life.” 

“I don’t think he’ll be in any state to drive.”

“He won’t need to. I can control it from the back. As soon as I can get access to one of their computers I can shut down everything inside the building.”

  
  
  
  



	2. Life and death

Billy felt a little nervous as he drove towards the front gate. Smuggling people in was new to him and he was being incredibly cautious when driving anyway. He couldn’t wear a seatbelt with his stomach in the state it was. Even speedbumps were painful. He handed his ID to the guard who looked it over before waving him through. He drove around the side of the building and parked up, just out of view of the security cameras. 

“We’re here. Just be careful of Copley. I know he keeps a gun hidden in his desk.”

Jack pushed open the back passenger side door and clambered out. “We’ll keep it in mind. You might want to stay here until this is all over.”

“Trust me, I’m going nowhere.” 

“Martha, go with Tosh and Ianto to the research labs. Shut down anything you can. Owen and Gwen, we’re going after Copley.” 

The research labs were eerily quiet, the only thing breaking the silence was a soft buzzing and the low hum of machinery. Ianto took point as they made their way into the dimly lit room. He frowned deeply, seeing a weevil in a tank covered in tubes and wires. The poor thing blinked slowly, unable to move or really understand what was happening to it. Martha walked carefully towards it. 

“How could they do this?” She breathed to herself, watching it weakly try to snarl. 

“If they’re willing to test on humans I don’t think they’d be too sympathetic to weevils. Do you think there’s a chance of us being able to release it?”

She looked over the readings on the monitor attached to the tank and shook her head. “It won’t be able to breathe on its own. It’s had its stomach and liver removed too.”

“Once Tosh has control over the computer system we can put it to sleep. Speaking of…” He looked over his shoulder at Tosh, hunched over one of the computers. She was concentrating on her work and didn’t notice the silhouette of someone approaching the door closest to her. Martha grabbed one of the metal stools from the corner of the room and jammed its legs through the handles of the door. She’d learned a long time ago that a fight that doesn’t happen is better than one that does. She stepped back as they heard a group of very confused lab technicians try to unjam the door.

“Any chance that you’re almost done there Tosh?” She asked.

Tosh didn’t look up. “Not yet. I’m in their system but I can’t just shut it down without releasing all of their captured specimens. Can you buy me a little more time?”

Shouting outside the barricaded door was followed by a loud bang as two security guards rushed it. The stool held but the legs bent.

“Not much.”

Ianto took a small cylinder from inside his jacket. “I might be able to buy us a bit more.” He pulled the tag from the side and carefully threw it through the gap between the doors. A cloud of white smoke poured out of it, causing the staff outside the door to descend into a panic. “I always come prepared.”

Jack wrestled the perimeter guard to the floor, knocking him out and cuffing his hands behind his back with his own handcuffs. 

“Let’s hope they don’t notice he’s gone too fast.” Owen whispered before jumping up to pull himself into the open window above them. Once inside he offered a hand to help Gwen up.

She almost tripped as she stumbled into the vacant office. “I’ll never get used to this whole breaking and entering thing.”

“We didn’t do any breaking. I mean I offered to lob a brick through one of the windows, but that was too noisy apparently.” 

“We don’t need every guard in this place knowing exactly where we are.” Jack pulled himself up and through the window, landing more quietly than he should have been able in boots.

“Where’s Copleys office then?”

“It should be three doors down to our left. I want to make sure he doesn’t have a chance to escape or cover any of this up. I need you both to make sure there are no patients left carrying those insects. Once this place is clear of any alien evidence we can leave the rest of the clean up to the police. But first-” He slowly, quietly, turned the door handle and peeked into the hallway. It was still and silent. Perfect. He waved the two over and pointed them to the end of the hall. They both moved ahead as Jack broke into Copleys office. The first patient room was empty but smelled strongly of disinfectant. It had likely been vacated very recently. The next wasn’t so empty. A nurse jumped to attention as soon as the door was opened. 

“Who are you? You can’t just walk in here-” She began.

Owen swept past her and to a man sitting in a chair at the other side of the room. “Have they given you anything yet?”

“Get out!” 

Gwen closed the door. “Listen, if you don’t want to be arrested you should shut up and sit down.” 

“Arrested? For what?!”

“Let’s start with testing hazardous drugs on people.”

“We’re helping people!”

“By sending an assassin after them to cover your own arse?”

“We’ve done no such thing!”

“Being as we arrested him just after he murdered one of your patients, yes, you did. Now sit down.” Gwen said firmly, her gaze steady.

The nurse glared but did as she was told and sat on the edge of the bed. 

The patient, a man in his forties, looked to Owen. “She gave me a pill.”

“Reset?” The doctor asked, pulling a small blister pack from inside his jacket. 

“Yes… Oh god is it going to kill me?”

“Not if I can help it. Take one of these and it’ll counteract what they’ve given you.”

He took the red capsule without a second thought. 

“Just take it easy, yea?” 

Gwen turned to the nurse. “How many patients do you have here?”

“Just one. The other three were sent home this morning.” 

“Good. Now, where’s Copely?”

“He’s probably in his office-” 

The sound of a gunshot rang out. 

Ianto took a step back from the door, reinforcements having arrived and the air in the hallway cleared. 

“I don’t mean to rush you, but I think they’re one step from just firing through the door.” He noted.

Tosh stepped back. “And done.” 

The tank with the weevil dimmed and the creature fell still. 

“What did you do?” Asked Martha.

“I gave them all an overdose of the sedatives they were being given. All of their specimens are beyond saving now. It was the most painless way I could think of.” 

She looked to the fire escape that they’d entered through. “What do you think the chances are that we’re not surrounded?”

“Pretty low.” She tapped her earpiece. “I’ve copied and wiped the system. All of the specimens have been euthanized. Any sign of Dr Copley?”

There was a slight pause before Gwen answered. “We just heard a shot from his office. I’m going to investigate.” 

Ianto carefully looked through a small gap in the fire door and frowned. 

“Are we surrounded?” Asked Tosh, already knowing the answer.

“A little bit.”

The sound of an engine was followed by gunfire and a set of dull thuds. 

“Never mind.” He pushed the door open and waved the women over to get in the van that had plowed through the collected guards. 

Billy glanced over his shoulder. “You looked like you could do with a hand.”

The doors of the lab flew open as Ianto clambered into the vehicle and Billy stepped on the accelerator.

Jack gasped back to life, the pounding in his head slowly ebbing to a dull ache. Bullets always did that. They burned and tore at the tissues they came in contact with and that was a bitch to heal. A familiar voice filled his ears as his brain began to comprehend the world around him again.

“Copley’s escaping.” He managed to say as his vision cleared. 

Gwen helped him to his feet. “Any idea which way he went?”

“Sorry, I was dead at the time. Couldn’t track him.”

“Alright grumpy. He’s probably headed towards the exit.” She ran into the hallway, seeing Owen in the patient rooms doorway. “Copley’s made a run for it. See if you can cut him off that way. He’s probably heading for the exit.” 

He took off at a sprint one way while Gwen went the other, Jack following close behind. 

In the foyer of the building Copley pulled the fire alarm to clear the building. He hoped that he could escape in the chaos. For everything that had been destroyed he still had three reset pills hidden in his pocket and a bundle of papers under his arm. He could restart. 

“Copley! Drop the gun.” Gwen ordered, skidding to a halt. 

He gritted his teeth. “I won’t let you destroy my lifes work!” He backed towards the front doors slowly. He had nothing left to lose, maybe he could just run for it and hope for the best. That hope was shattered as the van stopped in front of the doors, blocking his only way out. Ianto and Tosh were ready, their weapons aimed as the door was opened. 

“It’s over. Just surrender with a bit of dignity.” Jack said with a calmness out of place in such a situation. 

“I could have saved millions! My research needed to continue.”

“You killed innocent people.”

“It was worth it!”

“It wasn’t worth it! They were human beings. They had families, friends, lives!” Martha snapped, unable to hold her tongue any longer. 

Copely turned and aimed for her. Ianto pushed her out of the line of fire and felt a burning pain cut through his chest. Copley was instantly filled with bullets and as the dust settled he was left in a slowly growing pool of blood. Jack crossed the room to see Martha cradling Iantos still body. 

“No… No, Ianto…” The captain gasped, his blood running cold. He pulled his lovers body into his arms, brushing back his hair. “Please… Don’t leave me… Ianto please.” Tears dripped down and onto Iantos cheek. 


	3. New life

Jack had begged Owen to just take Ianto back to the hub and give him a few hours before he was processed. Owen hadn’t even tried to argue. He’d barely been holding himself together as it was. The captain had remembered the words of the tarot girl from the last time they met. She had to know what he needed. He’d burst into the pub, eyes reddened and heart in his throat. 

“Where is it?” He gasped as he reached her table. “Please.”

“I promised I’d tell you, didn’t I?” She stood, placing her cards into a bag at her side. “Follow me.” 

The hub was silent bar the slight sniffling from those inside. Martha wiped away a line of mascara from her cheek.

“It’s all my fault.” She sobbed. 

Gwen wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “No. No, it wasn’t. He could have snapped at any of us.” 

“She’s right. No use blaming yourself.” Owen said, Tosh essentially curled into his chest. He had numbed himself out for now. It was too much to cope with. 

Time felt like it had lost meaning as they all just sat there, racked with grief, but they were all immediately pulled back as Jack returned to the hub. He didn’t even wait for the lift to fully hit the floor before jumping down. His shirt was soaked with blood and the fabric was tattered. He’d left his coat covering Ianto, as if he’d get cold so the crimson was even more stark. He held something tightly in his right hand as he sprinted down to the archives, ignoring the cries of his team who were left in confusion. The gauntlet had been safely stored away and was exactly where he expected it to be. With both resurrection gauntlets in his possession he bounded back, pulling them on. 

“Jack, what the hell are you doing?!” Owen shouted, trying to get through to the man. “You know that thing’s only temporary. Just let him rest!”

Jack bit his lip. “No, that’s what one does. Gloves come in pairs. If this is going to work I needed both.”

“And if it doesn’t work?”

“Just let me try!” He roared, looking up at Owen with desperation in his eyes. “Please.”

He looked to the others who didn’t object. “Ok, just… Then let him rest, yea?”

Jack nodded and looked down at the pale face of the man he loved. Ianto looked almost as if he was just sleeping if it weren’t for the blue tint to his skin. The gauntlets connected to Jacks mind. He could feel them digging in, searching for a command. He just wanted to see Ianto alive. Even for a little longer. He needed him. Sparks travelled between the metal plates of the cold gauntlets. Why hadn’t it worked yet? It needed to work. 

“Ianto… Please…” Jack breathed through gritted teeth. He could feel the gloves pulling at his very core. Pulling his lifeforce away, and in that moment he didn’t care. A burning hot electricity ran through his hands as Iantos eyes flew open. The man on the cold table gasped, hands grabbing at his chest. 

“Ianto.” Jack sobbed, the gauntlets falling to dust around his burned fingers. “It’s ok.”

“What… What happened?... Jack?” Ianto reached out for him, content with holding his arm while his hands healed. 

“I don’t know how long we have. I failed you. And I’m so sorry.”

He looked down at the hole in his shirt and then up at his friends mournful faces. “He shot me… It doesn’t hurt… Jack, I don’t want to go.”

“Then stay. Just… Just stay.” Jack kissed his forehead, trying desperately to hold back tears and failing. 

“You won’t forget me, will you?”

“Never.”

For a long moment they just stayed silent, holding on to each other as if letting go would end it all. Maybe it would. Gwen broke the uneasy silence.

“It’s usually stopped working by now… Did… Did it work like it should this time?” She asked, a small spark of hope rising in her. 

Ianto let go of Jack long enough to examine his chest where he’d felt the bullet enter only to find undamaged skin. He could feel his heart beating. “Am… I alive?” 

Jack laughed and wrapped his arms firmly around him, tears still streaming down his face but from relief this time. Gwen ran round to wrap her arms around them both, swiftly joined by both Tosh and Martha. Owen hung back, trying not to get his hopes up too fast. He couldn’t cope if it was all ripped away again so soon. He left them to it for a while before deciding it was time to make sure for himself. 

“Right, everyone else out. Give Ianto some space to breathe. I need to make sure everything’s working like it should.” 

Everyone, reluctantly, moved away. Filing out with hopeful smiles. Jack was last, not wanting to lose contact, just in case he somehow woke up and none of it was real.

“Jack. Come on, I won’t let him go again so soon, yea?” Owen patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. “Go wash off the blood.” 

He gave Ianto a kiss before letting him go and heading towards his bunker to wash off the day. Ianto waited until everyone was out of earshot before turning to Owen.

“Was I really dead?”

“Yea… You were.” He pulled over a stool and sat. “Scared the living daylights out of me.”

“Sorry. I’ll try harder not to get shot next time.”

“Ianto…”

“How am I here? Alive.”

“Jack ran off and found the other resurrection gauntlet. Looks like both were needed to get it to work. Not like we can test it now though. The things dissolved… What was it like then? Being dead.”

“It was dark… Cold… Then it was blindingly bright… That’s all I remember.” He pulled his blood stained shirt away from his skin.

Owen wandered over to grab his stethoscope from its drawer. “You can take that off. No use sitting around smelling like blood.”

“Yea… Ok…” He was hunched over, holding on to Jacks coat that was still laid across his legs. 

“You feeling ok?”

He tried to say yes but his voice was trapped under the lump in his throat. He was scared. Terrified. He’d been shot dead and now he didn’t know where he stood. Alive? Undead? He could drop dead at any moment. How was he meant to live like that? He looked down at his shaking hands, almost losing his grip on his composure. 

“Ianto… You’re going to be ok.” Owen said, sounding as confident and assured as it was possible to be. 

He nodded, swallowing down his fear. At least for now. 

Jack sat in the bottom of his shower, letting the hot water run over his face. It had been a long time since he’d felt that level of fear and devastation. It was like when he’d watched the TARDIS leave him behind. Jack Harkness had loved people over the years. With all his heart he loved people and he’d lost them. Why did this feel like more than that? The idea of Losing Ianto made him feel so desperately empty inside that it physically hurt. Ianto Jones was alive. But what if he wasn’t? What if when he climbed back up into the hub he wasn’t there? What if he was still cold and dead on that table? No. He couldn’t think like that. He tried to concentrate on the water. Something he could feel. Something real. He wrapped his arms around his knees and sighed deeply. 

“Pull yourself together.” He breathed. The burning pain in his chest got worse. Looking at the water swirling down the drain he realised it was red, too red to just be what was left from fighting off a whole nest of weevils. Pressing his fingers over the skin of his chest, he felt a deep hole pierced into his flesh. The room began to spin and he closed his eyes, letting his consciousness drift. Before his world was swallowed by the void he thought of Ianto and smiled. 

Gwen had been helping Martha take off what was left of her ruined mascara as she didn’t want to run off to the bathroom until they were one hundred percent certain Ianto was going to be ok. Tosh had dug out the good biscuits as something to tide them over until everyone was together to order dinner. That was almost the routine whenever something was bad enough to leave them that shaken. Food, drinks, talking about anything that isn’t whatever happened that day, and dragging yourself home at three in the morning because sleeping was a daunting idea. They all knew they’d be having nightmares. Owen wandered out of the med bay casually.

“Well, looks like Jack can perform miracles.” He said. “Let Ianto go and have a shower before you jump on him.” 

Ianto peeked out with a small smile, his eyes were puffy and red but other than that he looked perfectly healthy. He rushed off to shower while Owen collapsed on the sofa, his head landing on Toshikos lap. 

“Where did Jack go?” 

Tosh chuckled quietly and brushed back his hair. “He went to shower like you said. He’s taking a while though.” 

“I’ll give him five more minutes then go and check on him.” He mumbled, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. 

Gwen smiled warmly at him. “Well, I suppose we didn’t bugger up completely today then.” 

“How do you do this every day?” Martha asked, taking one of the biscuits to hopefully ease the empty ache in her stomach.

“It’s not always like this… Usually things are on a smaller scale. Less guns and more angry weevils or tech that turns people inside out.”

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I am… Mostly.” 

“Why don’t you hire more people?”

Gwen shrugged. “Jack’s selective. We don’t need someone being hired only to try and kill us. Or worse, have their life fall apart.”

“Oh, will Rhys be home tonight?” Asked Tosh, Owen beginning to snore softly on her lap.

“Thankfully yes. I’m glad I didn’t call him right off the bat. That could be confusing.”

“You know he would have rushed right here.”

“He would as well.” She smiled. “Martha, didn’t you say there was someone new you were talking to?”

Martha blushed slightly. “Yea. What are the chances of meeting someone else who knows the doctor?” 

“Oh? What’s his name then?”

“Micky Smith.”

Jacks warm laughter travelled from his office. “How is he?”

“He’s fine. You know him?”

“I do. Micky the idiot.” He wandered out in loose trousers and a t shirt, an almost nostalgic look on his face. “That’s what the Doctor called him anyway. He’s a good man.”

“I’ll tell him you approve.”

“Don’t. I’ll never hear the end of it… Where’s Ianto?”

“He’s gone for a shower. Owen says he’s ok.”

“I’ll go and check on him.”

Gwen narrowed her eyes. “You be gentle with him.”

“What kind of man do you take me for?”

Ianto made a mental note to buy new towels for the work showers. Blood never quite came out of them and it always gave them a slight yellow tint that he couldn’t stand. The hot water was nice. Even with the warmth of Jacks greatcoat he’d woken up very cold. The smell of blood was replaced by the scent of soap and he finally began to relax. He rolled his shoulders and tried to pretend he hadn’t been crying only minutes before. He suddenly felt as if he was being watched. He rinsed the soap off his face and looked to the end of the room. Jack was lent against the wall, just watching him. 

“Hi. Owen said you were ok. I wanted to see for myself.” He smiled softly, a fond warmth spreading through his heart. 

“I’m all in one piece apparently. It looks like it’s permanent.”

“I would have thought you’d be happy about that.”

“I am! Of course I am.”

He paused for a long moment. “I meant it.”

“Meant what?”

“That I’d never forget you.”

Ianto scoffed. “You can’t remember me forever. I’m just a short blip in time in the grand scheme of things.”

“Not to me… When I thought you were gone I… It was like suffocating… I didn’t even feel it when the weevils attacked. I just knew I had to find a way to save you.” 

“Weevils? What?”

“They were defending the other gauntlet… We should go on holiday.”

He chuckled at the sudden change of subject. “What?”

“Just you, me, somewhere warm.”

“If we have time…”

“We’ll make time. The world can take care of its self for a little while.” 

“Jack-” He turned off the water and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist. “-I’m here. I’m not planning on just disappearing on you.”

Jack placed his hand over Iantos heart. “I failed you.”

“You never failed me.” He placed his hand over Jacks. 

“Don’t go.” 

He looked up into the captains blue eyes, fear emanating from them. In one swift movement he pulled Jack close and spoke into his neck. “Never.” 


End file.
